Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 28, 11:25 PM ET

ABBV max pain

Spot (delayed)$256
Max pain · Fri, Oct 16$240-6.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$19.9±7.8% by Fri, Oct 16
Put/Call OI1.0513K puts / 12K calls
Call wall$280largest call OI
Put wall$200largest put OI
IV3023.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$5.4Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $260

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 · FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 · Jobs report Fri, Oct 2 · CPI release Wed, Oct 14 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Sep 4$255-0.4%6d
Fri, Sep 11$250-2.3%13d
Fri, Sep 18$230-10.2%20d
Fri, Sep 25$250-2.3%27d
Fri, Oct 2$260+1.6%34d
Fri, Oct 9$245-4.3%41d
Fri, Oct 16$240-6.3%48d
Fri, Nov 20$240-6.3%83d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot240105154203252301350$124M$0
■ put-side pain■ call-side painTotal payout option writers would owe at each settle price (both sides, all open interest, ×100 shares) — low settles hurt put writers, high settles hurt call writers. The minimum — 240 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot2401051351651952503102K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ABBV open contracts per strike for Fri, Oct 16.

Open-interest change — building vs unwinding

Needs two observed snapshot days for this expiration — the comparison appears automatically once the next weekday snapshot lands. We diff real observations only; nothing is estimated.

Volume by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot240105135165195250310114114
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot12517021526030535099%23%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 25.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spotflip 260125155185230290350+$1.9M$1.9M
Net dealer gamma per strike, in dollars per 1% move, assuming the standard convention (dealers long calls, short puts) — an assumption, not an observation. Above the amber flip level hedging tends to dampen moves; below it, to amplify them.

Greeks by strike · Fri, Oct 16

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.99-0.011950.00110.03-0.01-0.02
0.98-0.012000.00140.04-0.02-0.02
0.97-0.022100.00260.07-0.03-0.04
0.93-0.042200.00470.12-0.04-0.08
0.88-0.052300.00800.19-0.06-0.14
0.78-0.072400.01230.28-0.08-0.25
0.64-0.092500.01610.34-0.09-0.39
0.47-0.092600.01740.37-0.09-0.56
0.30-0.082700.01550.33-0.08-0.72
0.17-0.062800.01150.25-0.06-0.84
0.09-0.042900.00730.16-0.04-0.92
0.05-0.023000.00430.10-0.02-0.95
0.03-0.023100.00270.06-0.01-0.97
0.02-0.013200.00180.04-0.01-0.98
0.01-0.013300.00120.03-0.01-0.99

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 35 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot95180235260282.533013K0
Call open interest per strike, stacked across the checked expirations — each color is one expiry. Strikes are pruned to the liquid center of each chain.

All expirations combined — total open interest

spot8514520524527532023K23K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 145K call contracts, 113K put contracts open.

Reading this honestly

Max pain is arithmetic, not prophecy: the settle price that would minimize what option writers pay out at expiration, computed from open interest alone. Prices sometimes gravitate toward heavy strikes into expiry — dealer hedging is a real flow — but the evidence that max pain predicts settlement better than chance is mixed, and we are not going to pretend otherwise. Use it as a map of where positioning is stacked, next to the fundamentals and the earnings calendar, not as a target.

Data: Cboe delayed public feed (~15 minutes), refreshed here about every 15 minutes. Open interest itself updates once daily, before the open. Educational information, not investment advice.

Keep going: ABBV workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk